Best method to get out to the masses? The internet. Youtube, soundcloud, bandcamp, spotify, these places can be accessed by almost anyone anywhere in the world. Throw your/their stuff on there and boom, the masses can listen to your work.
Is social media enough? Depends. Some artists can get by completely without using it, others could use it daily or even hourly and it won't affect their popularity in the slightest.
Online fan connection to build their career? I mean it couldn't hurt.
Best tool to market their music? Get hooked up with a really good PR firm. Find a really good label that deals with your style of music. Find DJs/youtubers/radio stations/instagram or snapchat or worldstar celebrities and have them play your/their stuff. Find whatever gig will let you perform and perform perform perform.
Final thought, if you/they really want a career in music, whether it's performing or composing or whatever, you/they really have to look at everything and everyone that's already out there, then look at themselves/their work/yourself/your work and ask "Is this marketable?"

To tie this to this thread, I remember starting GTA4 and something like 10 minutes into the game I was suppose to fist fight someone to move on to the next mission or progress the story. The controls were so confusing and I was too lazy to learn them that it ended my gaming career.

I've quit playing video games but it was due to the frustration of needing to learn how to play a game rather than I play games too much and need to stop. On most fronts my childhood is similar to yours in that I started with an Amiga/C64 and played various games on various systems up to wii/ps3, but now I just don't feel the need to keep up with any of the consoles or series anymore. Don't have the time nor do I want to spend the cash. I've never had a steam account so that doesn't effect me either.
I have lots of things that occupy my time that isn't gaming. Generally speaking if you want to quit gaming completely you're gonna have to find something else to fill that void.

The piano piece is nice, though it would benefit hugely had it had a human element to it.
Spark sounds nice too. I mean, yeah it's boring if you're trying to create a number one pop hit or a metal song and this is what you ended up with, but as background music for a narration or something this is fine.
What sort of music inspires you? What sort of music are you trying to produce? What/who are you comparing yourself to that would consider this boring?

@Nabeel Ansari would you know if the creative bundle ever goes on sale?
Hystersis isn't too bad for a delay/stutter effect, and it's free. Gross Beat can do tape stop sounds well though the stuttering is somewhat limiting. There was a plugin that was like dBlue's Glitch that had more potential imo but I can't remember the name of it.

Automation is a process, so the term doesn't do anything, it's what you automate that does something.
Say you want to fade out a track, you pick a point in which you want to start the fade, then as the track plays you move a slider or turn a knob until the track goes silent, then you stop.
Automation is exactly that, but instead of you doing it manually you're telling a program to do it for you.

That is way too broad and subjective a question. What are some examples of "perfection" in music in your opinion?
Why should people hate on someone who practiced so hard for so long where they're damn near perfect in there performance? That's incredibly juvenile. That's like hating Usain Bolt for training to be a fast runner.

Sounds like you know how to use samples, you just don't know how to create the sound you want. Could be a the sample itself isn't good to replicate an old 1920's song, could be you aren't mixing it in properly/at all, could be your sequencing is mechanical or too sloppy, could be a combination of all of that, could be something else.
I'd recommend not necessarily trying to create/emulate anything specific and just play around with your DAW, which leads to your second question, and I can't help you with that, I'm not a Reaper user. Try reading/watching a tutorial on how to get started using the DAW, and once you've gotten the hang of it take over and play.

Unfortunately, this is a really general question where someone would take way too much of their time to explain in detail how you could do it, or they can just give you a generalized answer of 'well you pick up a bass, and then drop it'.
2:40 is hardstyle or hard trance. Find an electronic kick drum like a 909, distort it.
My advice is to just play around with what you have. Try emulating whatever it is you want to do first, but get to know your DAW, how it works, what it has, what it does, what else it does, what else it can do, etc. etc. etc. Don't concern yourself with trying to make the next greatest remix you've ever heard and just practice with what you have.
I wouldn't advise just youtubing how to do whatever it is you think is going on or how to do whatever you want to do, but that is also an option.

The value of any object or collection is only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. If you don't plan on selling any part of your collection, then yeah waste of money. If no one is willing to give you money for your collection, then yeah waste of money. If you gain personal satisfaction or joy in your purchases then sure it has enormous sentimental value, but you're still wasting money.
In terms of a gaming collection, I would guess the value of old school games and system are pretty low simply because anything that was popular back then these companies simply remade and ported to whatever is being used to play games now, so it boils down to you owning something that is rare and is in high demand, otherwise I don't see how an aging game collection would really be worth anything.
I still have an SNES and say 12 games for it. I haven't touched it in years and I feel if I tried to sell it I could get maybe $50-$75 bucks? Considering how much it cost to purchase that stuff way back when it would have been a horrible investment.

Gave it a few listens, my opinion:
- Rather sparse. :48-1:42 or -2:11 seem like it's just filler, not a whole lot going on.
- The snare during :48-1:42 sounds too verby, maybe too much lo-end, maybe too much decay. Your ride is a little too soft, could use a bit more volume
- the chop @ 1:27 was nice
- The kick @ 2:38 sounds a little off, not sure if it's over compression, or there's so lo-end verb getting muffled, but the sound doesn't sound as clean as it should. The open hat is also quite soft
The sound is pleasant, I like the synth lead and atmosphere, but there isn't a whole lot going on for most of the track, then when it comes to the meat of it it's pretty standard trance beat. Could use more spices, less filler

Do you expect the finest ingredients when ordering in a five star restaurant, or the dollar menu at mcdonalds?
If they agree to pay you $100/minute for your compositions, then sure. If they're looking to pay $100/minute for songs then they'll probably want quality sound and compositions.

A dev is making a quality game, doesn't want to use public domain or royalty free tunes, they want something original and specific to their vision and they want quality.
Uhh, I guess they would listen to a piece and think "Damn, this is worth $100/minute or more!"
Uhh, I guess they would listen to a piece and think "Damn, this is not worth $100/minute!"
It's all subjective really. A dev may not be able to afford $100/minute, and maybe they just want 2 tunes and they only have $40 bucks. Maybe they don't want a minute worth of sounds so they don't have to justify the $100/minute. It's important to know and be familiar with contracts that both parties can agree upon, but whether or not they want to pay you $100/minute is up to them. Can they afford that? Can they find someone cheaper? Are you really worth $100/minute? Are you willing to negotiate for opportunity and experience? Are you willing to take a share of sales instead of $100/minute?

Again, depends on what you're trying to do. If you're an garage band then production isn't that big of a factor, if you're trying to be a trap producer then composition isn't that important.
I think that many directors want young people to be master of these trades because it'd be cheaper or easier to hire someone who knows everything rather than someone who excels in one field but needs training in the other. There's also at least one person out there who knows everything and times better spent finding them rather than taking on someone who's lacking?
I don't know if I could go back in time would I have done anything differently. I'm kinda where I personally want to be. Not looking into getting that AAA job or film composer position, but doing my own thing on my own terms